New England Patriots weren't so smart with Hernandez

Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, left, stands with his attorney Michael Fee, right, during arraignment in Attleboro District Court Wednesday, June 26, in Attleboro, Mass. Hernandez was charged with murdering Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player for the Boston Bandits, whose body was found June 17 in an industrial park in North Attleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/The Sun Chronicle, Mike George, Pool)

FILE - In this May 29, 2013, file photo, New England Patriots' Aaron Hernandez kneels on the field during NFL football practice in Foxborough, Mass. Hernandez is being sued in South Florida by a man claiming Hernandez shot him in the face after an argument at a strip club. The lawsuit comes as police in New England investigate Hernandez's possible connection to the death of a semipro player. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

Watching TV footage of Aaron Hernandez, handcuffed and disheveled and being taken by police from his North Attleboro, Mass., home Wednesday morning, "The Patriot Way" again rang hollow in this troubled football fan's head.

Always smarter than everyone else. Those are Bill Belichick's Patriots.

But not smarter in this case. Sadly not.

More than six hours after his arrest, Hernandez appeared in Attleboro District Court to be charged with first-degree murder. The 23-year-old from Bristol, Conn., is being held without bail, charged in the execution-style killing of Odin Lloyd, 27, of Dorchester, a semi-pro football player who was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee. Lloyd's body was found June 17 in an industrial park a mile from Hernandez's home.

Advertisement

Certainly the Patriots could never have imagined Hernandez would someday be accused of such a hideous crime. But a lot of other teams presumed dumber than Belichick's outfit worried that drafting the supremely talented Hernandez in 2010 might result in a bad ending of some sort.

Belichick apparently bought whatever reassurances his coaching pal Urban Meyer provided about Hernandez's character, enabling the Patriots to steal the University of Florida star in the fourth round. Belichick calls these "value picks." All other NFL teams were mocked for lacking Belichick's ingenuity to take a gamble on a versatile weapon who had won the John Mackey Award as the best tight end in college football.

(The Mackey Award's vetting also took a hit on Wednesday, since the award is supposedly presented to the collegiate tight end who exemplifies the "play, sportsmanship, academics and community values" of the great John Mackey.)

What could all those other NFL teams possibly have been thinking?

Well, probably that while football was important to Hernandez -- as Belichick likes to say in describing the ultimate character criteria -- other questionable activities were just as important to Hernandez, making the elusive tight end too great a risk. Those other teams perhaps wondered whether Meyer's word beyond X's and O's lacked validity. Because while the Gators racked up two national titles during Meyer's six years in Gainesville (he is now coaching at Ohio State), they had roughly 30 arrests. The Orlando Sentinel reported last week that Hernandez was arrested at Florida in 2007 while still a juvenile following an altercation at a campus hangout, and also was later questioned by police about a shooting. Guns and Hernandez seemed frequently in close proximity.

Within days of the Patriots stealing Hernandez in that 2010 draft, the Boston Globe reported the tight end had failed multiple drug tests for marijuana while at Florida. Hernandez countered that, hey, it was only one drug test he failed.

But USA-Today reported last week that worries about Hernandez's character and associates prompted at least one NFL team to remove him from their draft board. ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported other teams did so as well, including teams that previously had taken chances on so-called risky players.

But not the Patriots. They were too smart. They kept Hernandez on their board.

Not long after Hernandez was arrested Wednesday morning, the Patriots released the 2011 Pro Bowler. This perhaps exhibited a smidgen of Patriot Way principle, since the timing reportedly could make it more difficult for the team to recoup the $9.79 million Hernandez has already collected on a five-year, $40 million contract extension signed last August, and causes salary-cap miseries. But really, what choice did the Patriots have? It made no sense keeping on the roster a player who probably had no chance of playing this season, not to mention it would have been unconscionable to keep an accused murderer on the payroll hoping he might beat the rap.

Of course, bonus money and salary-cap ramifications and wondering who is left for Tom Brady to throw the ball to come September pale in significance to Lloyd's awful fate and his family's grief and heartache.

And whether Hernandez was drafted by the Patriots, some other team or no team at all, he still probably would have wound up in a courtroom somewhere facing murder and gun charges. He is what he is.

When last August the Patriots showed faith in Hernandez by signing him to that five-year contract extension, which included a $12.5 million signing bonus, he cut a $50,000 check for the charitable foundation named in honor of Myra Kraft, the late wife of Patriots owner Bob Kraft. Hernandez that day spoke emotionally of Bob Kraft and the Patriots changing his life and of his commitment "to play my heart out for them, make the right decisions, and live life as a Patriot."

Hernandez now faces the possibility of living his life behind bars. A Patriot despised. A Patriot who lost his way.